KCSE results for over 5,000 candidates cancelled

The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results for 2015 have been released.

While launching the results on Thursday morning, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said there was an "unprecedented" 70 per cent rise in cases of exam irregularities.

He said more than 5,000 individual results have been cancelled, up from 2975 cases recorded in the previous year.

All counties had cases of exam irregularities, except Isiolo County. The highest number of cases were recorded in three counties, namely Nairobi, Makueni and Meru, he said.

In a departure from tradition, Dr Matiang'i said the government had decided not to cancel results for entire schools, but only for those involved in cheating so that they can take individual responsibility.

The 2015 candidates can check their results through their mobile phones by sending a text message with their index numbers to 22252.

According to Dr Matiang'i, the report on the 2015 KCSE examinations contains "much more detailed information" than previous years.

The Cabinet Secretary will be holding a briefing later Thursday afternoon where he will field questions from the media and give more details on the results.

CANDIDATES WHO SAT EXAM

A total of 525,802 sat their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams last year.

This is an 8.3 per cent increase from 485,547 the previous year.

On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Education said it was concerned about the results, given the massive irregularities reported during the examinations.

“The examination was characterised by a lot of cheating. We saw it, heard about it and read about it,” said committee chairman Daniel Karaba during a meeting with Dr Matiang’i on Tuesday.

However, Dr Matiang’i declined to discuss the results, saying the senators should wait until today to